The Lost Generations of Malaysia

Bavani on BFM

K. Bavani is certainly a household word these days especially after her argument with a forum speaker went viral on You-tube.

I just had the privilege of watching her on BFM where she spoke about the reasons for her high-profile committed stance over the PTPN and the roots of her activism.

I guess for a Psychology graduate and a current law student, she has a fair grounding on political thoughts and   the derring-do to speak out amidst a background of students that have been taught the passive mode in thought and interactions  in the hallowed ivory towers of this country.

What concerned me when I saw the 9 minute or so video was despite her strong stand on issues, she could not express as well as she could to put her message through.

Say what you must, but Bavani is probably one of the members of Malaysia's post first lost generation. The first generation were those who had to undergo the changeover in the school system from English to BM and today the outcome of this has been the poor command of English and Malaysia losing its international competitiveness in terms of K-workers.

For Bavani, despite her possible escape from the dragnet of the current reversal of the school system back to status quo where English has again been relegated to an inferior position; and even though she can still throw her thoughts around in a staccato manner , we can only second guess her meanings. Her command of English is not good and because of that her thoughts did not come across so well in spite of the emotions she displayed  on the talk of  her ideals.

My contention is if Bavani is representative of most students at our local universities at this time, be prepared for much worse English command in the second lost generation.

This is indeed pitiful especially as world competitiveness becomes more acute, Malaysia will continue to lag behind because we lack the command of the world's number one language of communication in academia, the arts,the WWW and in entertainment.

Malaysian Politics:Losing the Plot!

Maverick donkey politicians? Aplenty!

Say what you may, politics in Malaysia has really gone down the drain.

At no time in the past have we been in a similar dreadful situation.

Off tangent and Losing the Plot!

What we have today is a political landscape of massive wholesale deception.

While the powers-to-be spew an ocean of disinformation, the other side is totally confused.

Seeing trees and not the forest

As they say, they have lost the forests for the trees.

PAS in particular is suffering from "too many cooks spoil the broth" and lack of discipline while DAP, indicating its colossal dearth of gray matter is jumping on the bandwagon to wrestle with Keadilan.

No less than Karpal Singh, the DAP President is showing off his apparent lack of strategy, giving unnecessary fodder to BN.

Karpal has indeed  lost the big picture too!

Even before the battle is won, the Pakatan Rakyat are drawing out their daggers. So many Brutuses!

So sad!

For MCA and Gerakan, there is just nothing for them to do but wait for political death to come.

The Hokkien has a word for this that needs no amplification- Bo Pien! See Kiao Kiao!

Parliament must be dissolved by 27 April while elections must be held by 27 June 2013.

The window gets narrower for PM Najib.

Now who is Flora Ong?

Deepak seems to be throwing new bombs of political destruction for poor Najib.

As for intra-UMNO conflicts, it will surely hot up even more!

So, let us have some fun as we loop back onto the rumour mills with Bala coming home tomorrow.

Sandiwara-The Pre-Elections Shadow Play

More of such shadows will be seen

With possibly less than 2 months going forward for the 13th GE, what we get these days in both the MSM and the alternative media is shadow play.

Strategy-wise, both sides will not want to blink first and destroy its so-called offensive camouflage.

The question we asked as innocent voters would be: Who is likely calling the big bluff?

Planned Disinformation

 And which party is the biggest dolt to expose itself unnecessarily so near the elections.

Currently, the downsides for the BN continues to be the weaknesses of its component parties except possibly for Sarawak.

Secondly, the BN is uncertain of its strategy.

They cannot lose the Malay votes and yet the have to doubly worked hard to salvage the chances of its component parties which without UMNO's help will be buried alive.

Capturing the Weak-minded?

Sadly, by doing so, it is sending wrong signals to the Malay electorate by its equivocal positions; and the murkiness that is being generated may cause it to lose seats in their traditional bastions such as Johor and Pahang.

For the Pakatan, the seams are unraveling at the worst time too!

PAS, as usual is providing the boo-boos for the BN to jump on.

Belittling the BRIM and questioning the potential leadership of Anwar as the PM in case of a PR victory is really counter-productive and some votes can be lost especially among fence-sitters.

Both sides do have weak strategies.

As such, it is the fight between the weak and the weaker!

Let us wait for clearer signals as the election day draws nearer.

Looking for Silver Linings

This movie which is aptly titled," Silver Lining Playbook" counsels us to look for the elusive silver linings in times when circumstances creates adversity in our lives.

Dashing Taylor Cooper

In this movie, the Bradly Cooper persona, Pat had just returned from a mental facility after 8 months  and had to cope with returning to society with a restraining order not to communicate with his ex-wife. He then meets Tiffany, a girl who is at loose ends after the death of her husband in an auto accident and who has just been fired from her job.

Charming Jennifer Lawrence

Then we have Robert De Niro as the father who is also betting on football to sustain himself to start a  restaurant business iafter losing his job. There is also Veronica ( Julia Stiles) who is having trouble with Ronnie   her husband as well . Finally, there is Chris rock, also  an inmate of the mental institution and friend of Pat.

The uplifting parents

The silver linings did come when all the loose ends  got tied up to everyone's satisfaction.

Well edited with a cool aura throughout the movie.

Entertaining show.

Why Google Translate Misleads.

I have translated and ENglish text using Googgle Translate.

Look for yourself, how the meaning is lost.

Establishment of educational institutions is a noble effort in designating penggarapan process. Knowledge and formal research universities of the earliest in the history of the world such as Al-Azhar Palencia Bologna, Oxford Cambridge and the University of Naples. In 1224, the world's oldest public university was built by the world's earliest civilizations based one purpose - as a center of educational research ideas and learning delivery and the development of knowledge through the medium of writing. This reality is totally contradictory to the purpose of the establishment of most universities today that seem transformed into institutional graduation recognition and most unfortunate that as a business rooted in profit. Ibn Khaldun sociological and economic historians figure in his article was a remark Prolegomenon submit the following people is a platform to achieve sovereignty and strength of a country's strength comes from economic prosperity built by human capital development. Development education can only be achieved through justice and inclusiveness for all. Aristotle also suggested that "Education should be a single and equal for all". A system that practices discrimination in education based on the ability of the economy will menatijahkan imbalance in the quality of human capital and workforce that will become the backbone of society. Both the above argument is the thesis of the article this.

A Chinese New Year Gathering for Friends of MOSTE

Not too noisy After all!

This is one rare occasion where former colleagues and friends of MOSTE could meet to renew their bonds of friendship and camaraderie.

And what better time than to have it within the Chinese New Year festivity so that we could lousang together for better health and longevity!

The Road  Map to the Restaurant

Sixteen of us were supposed to grace the dinner table but Mr Khoh was unable to make it as sadly he went to the wrong branch out the restaurant at Ara Damansara and in trying to come back to our dinner destination, lost his way along the new NKVE. As for Dr. Thiru, he was unwell and could not attend;sending both his regrets and regards.

Food was so-so but it was the spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood that mattered.

I believed we all had a great time on this 21st night of February 2013!

Before saying our goodnights, Dato' Leong suggested that we meet again soon possibly in 2 to 3 month's time.

We have even picked the restaurant-the Pantai Seafood Restaurant next door with its better food and price premium image.

For the record, the friends  of MOSTE who attended  were:

Dato' Leong
Dato' Cheah
Meng Leng
Siok Eng
Boon Khee
Jini
Chee
Chui Khoon
Heng Keng
Patrick
Goan Lee
Teik Beng
Kok Fook
Myself

YTL Corp-Fast Track to Singapore

Hi-speed to nowhere

The hi speed rail link project between Singapore and Malaysia has apparently been announced.

The heavy buying by EPF started yesterday when the prices of the counter fell.

YTL Corp went as low as RM 1.55 in the opening minutes before recovering to keeled off at the RM 1.56 to RM 1.57 level.

Then, geez, what do you know?

In the last 15 minutes there was a heave-ho!

Two million of so of shares bought in tranches of 500,000 shares.

The price perked up two cents to RM 1.58.

I smell the handiwork of EPF and other state pension funds!

In a normal market there could be day traders and speculators who would have jumped head-long onto YTL Corp.

The scenario these days are different.

Even if YTL Corp got the moon and Jupiter, any rise will be cut short be eager sellers out to make some small money to exit before the potential fallout wrought by the impending 13th GE news and the crazy politicking going on out there.

While foreign buyers are getting scarcer by the day, retail buyers are mostly missing except for some stale bulls and the state  pension funds doing national service.

Do not get excited at any price jump any day these days.

Stay out and watch the ice melt down the prices at BSKL as the days draw nearer when the Johore and Negeri Sembilan state assemblies dissolve by the third week of March.